


The first time Sharon goes MIA

by opposablethumbs



Series: A week of firsts [2]
Category: Marvel
Genre: F/F, Girls in Love, NATSHARON, Spy girlfriends, spies in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 04:53:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17016114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opposablethumbs/pseuds/opposablethumbs
Summary: Sharon goes missing in the field. Nat discovers she has more reasons than she expected to find her.





	The first time Sharon goes MIA

Viewing a fellow agent’s ‘message in a bottle’ - the recording made by every SHIELD operative before they go undercover - is a job no-one wants. There’s never a  _good_  reason to do it, and it typically comes with the awareness that you’re probably not going to see them again. Natasha has been called in to do it on three previous occasions. This time, however, the request is more than a little personal.

__**Sharon Carter aka Agent 13  
** **Missed check in May 12, 2009  
** **Missed check in June 19, 2009  
** **Missed check in July 26, 2009  
** **Declared MIA August 12, 2009**

And tacked on the end, in Director Fury’s own spidery handwriting:

**SHE WANTED IT TO BE YOU**

There aren’t many people Natasha is close to. Her early years didn’t exactly encourage forming bonds. But she and Sharon went through SHIELD training together, and they’ve been on missions together. They’ve had each other’s backs when it’s really mattered, and Sharon is one of only three people to have ever seen the inside of Nat’s apartment. Nor is Nat immune to the spark between them, to the way Sharon’s gaze lingers sometimes or how her own heart will speed at the flash of a thigh-holster.

She leans forward and presses play. The screen stutters and Sharon’s image appears on it. Nat recognises that it dates to a few months earlier, to when Sharon started growing out her cute pixie cut; ears just peeking through shaggy lengths.

“If you’re watching this video,” Sharon says, using the standard wording from the manual, “then I’m missing. Possibly captured. More likely dead.” A faint smirk alights on her lips. “And if this is anyone but Nat, boss, I’m going to dedicate my afterlife to haunting you.”

“Nat,” continues Sharon. “You know I trust you with my life. Now I’m going to trust you with something even more important.”

Natasha chews her lip, a tiny tic she would only allow herself in private.

“I need you to do something for me.”

_Anything_ , Natasha thinks and is surprised by how easily the word comes.

“Before you tell my mom that I’m… gone, I want you to go to my apartment and… well…” There’s a faint flush creeping up Sharon’s cheeks in the vid and she ducks her head and looks up through her fringe. “I need you to clear out all my sex toys.”

Despite herself and the situation, Natasha laughs out loud; a single loud bark of utter surprise and amusement.

But Sharon isn’t done. “Assuming that we’re not already sleeping together, in which case you know,” she says, and that sobers Nat up in a single, skipped heartbeat, “then you’ll find them under the comforter in my bedside cabinet. Oh,” she adds and  _winks_ , “And try not to be too sad about all the incredible things we could’ve done with them.” She offers a last beaming smile at the camera and blows a kiss. The screen goes blank and Nat hears the sound of the disk being macerated.

Natasha squeezes her eyes shut against the tears, fists balling. Her mind is already spinning the web of a life unlived: kissing in the rain, making love in the stillness before dawn. With sudden determination, she starts to her feet, her chair scraping noisily on the metal grid floor.

She’s going to find Sharon and bring her home.


End file.
